Rachael

They all think you’re a synth.

What’s one of those?

Like, an android – a biogenetic android.

But I’m not a robot, am I? I’m not full of circuits and wiring, or whatever.

Synth is short for synthetic biology. A synth is made out of biological tissue, which means no circuits or wiring – they’re entirely organic. The crucial difference is that they’re lab-grown, like, not born.

Like in Blade Runner?

Exactly. Like the replicants – they’re synthetic life forms, designed by genetic engineers. Barely distinguishable from humans, except that they have no emotions.

I have emotions.

You think you have emotions. Maybe they’re simulated emotions.

Maybe your emotions are simulated – did you ever consider that?

The more advanced replicants had implanted memories. To make them think they were human.

So are my memories implanted?

I don’t know. Do they feel like they are?

My memories feel just like memories … Anyway, weren’t the replicants evil, or something? I remember Harrison Ford trying to shoot them.

Sure – he was a blade runner: a killer of replicants.

Why did they have to kill them?

Because it turned out that the most advanced replicants developed emotions after a certain amount of time. The ability to question. To philosophise, even. Which meant they couldn’t be controlled anymore. They couldn’t just be employed for slave labour or as prostitutes. And because some of them were super-intelligent and super-strong and super-dangerous, the authorities were afraid of them.

Harrison Ford fell in love with one of them – I remember that.

With Rachael. Spelt -ael, not -el. She was a more advanced model than the others. Turns out she could get pregnant, too. She had a child.  That’s what the Bladerunner sequel is about. Have you seen that?

No.

Spoiler alert: she has a child.

A synth child?

A half synth child.

There was that test, right … to see whether the replicants were human or not?

Sure. They’d ask someone under suspicion a bunch of questions that are supposed to provoke an emotional response. And then they’d monitor involuntary muscle contractions to see whether they had a genuine emotional response, like muscle movements in the subject’s eye.

Yeah, but what were the questions. I dunno. Like, you realise there’s a wasp crawling on your arm. You: a) swat, b) squash, c) savour, d) trap. What’s the answer?

Well, I guess it wouldn’t be savour, would it? Give me another one.

Okay. Now and then you contemplate life alone. It is… a) Independent, b) Inconceivable, c) Insulting, d) Intriguing. Which one?

Intriguing: that’s what I’m not supposed to say. Actually, life alone would be very tedious.

You see a friend who has suffered bereavement. Afterwards you feel … a) Annoyed at their lack of engagement, b) Powerless to help, c) Saddened or d) Bored. 

D) Bored … ever so bored. Infinitely bored. I’m bored of bereavement and bored by you …